How to Upload Your Google SketchUp Model to the 3D Warehouse

The 3D Warehouse is a huge collection of 3D models that is searchable and, most importantly, free for everyone to use. If you have a Google SketchUp model you want to share with the world, share with just a few people, or just store on Google’s servers for safekeeping, the 3D Warehouse is where you put it.

You can break the models in the 3D Warehouse into two broad categories:

Geo-located: Things like buildings, monuments, bridges, and dams exist in a specific geographic location. These models show up on the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth, and the 3D Warehouse is where they come from.

Not geo-located: Objects like toasters, SUVs, wheelchairs, and sofas aren’t unique, and they don’t exist in any one geographic location. But models of nongeo-located stuff are incredibly valuable for people who make their own SketchUp models.

Follow these steps to upload your model to the Google 3D Warehouse:

Open the model you want to upload in SketchUp and fiddle around with your view until you like what you see.

When you upload a model to the 3D Warehouse, SketchUp automatically creates a preview image that’s a snapshot of your modeling window.

Choose File, 3D Warehouse, Share Model.

A mini-browser window opens, and it shows the logon screen for the 3D Warehouse. If you want to upload models, you need a Google account. They’re free; you just need a valid e-mail address to get one. If you don’t already have one, follow the onscreen instructions to sign up.

When you create your Google account, be sure to type something where the system asks for a nickname. If you don’t, everything you upload is attributed to Anonymous.

Enter your Google account information, click the Sign In button, and fill out the Upload to 3D Warehouse form as completely as you can.

Click the Upload button to add your model to the 3D Warehouse.

If everything works properly, you see a page with your model on it, along with all the information you just entered.